Zed Williams scored the game-winning goal 1:19 into the overtime period to lift No. 13 UVA (5-2) over the Cornell Big Red (0-4) in front of 6,035 fans at LeBard Stadium on Saturday night, 19-18. Williams scored all four of his goals in the second half as the Cavaliers tallied 15 of their goals in the second half.
“We love Zed Williams,” said Virginia men’s lacrosse head coach Lars Tiffany. “In overtime, it was giving the ball to someone you whole-heartily believe in. He won this game twice for us. He sticks the man-up goal with 14 seconds left and we should have won the game at that point, but give credit to Cornell to tie it up with four seconds left and Zed makes the game-winner in overtime. That is what big-time players do in primetime moments.”
UVA trailed by two goals, 17-15, with 3:46 left. Virginia scored three straight goals, to take an 18-17 lead with 14 seconds left. Williams scored a man-up goal with 2:20 left, followed by AJ Fish’s game-tying goal with 51 seconds left. Williams lifted UVA up by one goal, 18-17, with 14 seconds left on a man-up opportunity.
Cornell won the ensuing faceoff and with four seconds left Jordan Dowiak scored unassisted for Cornell, tying the game, 18-18. Once the overtime faceoff went out of bounds off of the stick of Cornell’s Paul Rasimowicz, UVA took two shots and Williams stuck the game-winner at 2:41 in overtime off of a Michael Kraus helper.
“I give a ton of credit to both teams for not giving in,” said Tiffany. “We are down two with two minutes left, Cornell is done one with 14 seconds left and I give credit to the men wearing red and the men wearing white. The players on the field were here to play the game the way it was meant to be played, fast and furious and keep shooting until you hear click – click- click because you are out of ammunition.”
The Cavaliers overcame a big first-half deficit. After one quarter of play Cornell led 6-0 and at halftime it was a 9-4 Big Red advantage. The Cavaliers used a nine-goal third quarter coming out of the intermission to give UVA a 13-11 lead, its first of the game. During UVA’s nine-goal third quarter Mike D’Amario scored three of his five goals, while Kraus scored three as well.
The fourth quarter the goals came in bunches, the first three by Cornell as the Big Red retook the lead, 14-13, with 10:44 left. D’Amario and Williams scored back-to-back, giving UVA a 15-14 lead. Cornell scored three more goals in a row to snatch the two-goal lead before UVA’s final push by Williams and company.
Virginia won the battle of shots (58-42) and ground balls (51-33). Cornell had more faceoff wins (20-19), saves (10-8) and turnovers (15-6). UVA was led by D’Amario’s eight points (five goals, three assists), Kraus (three goals, three assists) and Williams (four goals, two assists) each added six points.
The 37 combined goals set a Pacific Coast Shootout record. Saturday’s game was UVA’s first in the state of California.
Cornell was led by Dowiak and Jeff Teat as both players had five goals each. Clarke Petterson added four goals in the losing cause.
Virginia returns to action on Saturday, March 18 when No. 1 Notre Dame comes to Klöckner Stadium. Faceoff is set for 6 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPNU.
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Chris Graham
